Some important ‘points of contact’ (McEnery and Wilson 2001: 114)

Some important ‘points of contact’ (McEnery and Wilson 2001: 114)

Cons…

Cons…

The corpus-based approach tends to obscure ‘the character of each text as a text’ and ‘the role of the text producer and the society of which they are a part’ (Hunston 2002: 110)

CL focuses on text, not text producer

Analyzing a lot of text from a corpus simultaneously would force the analyst to lose ‘contact with text’ (Martin 1999: 52)

Pros…

Corpora present a real opportunity to discourse analysis, because the automatic analysis of a large number of texts at one time ‘can throw into relief the non-obvious in a single text’ (Partington 2003: 7)

Pros

Pros

‘Obviously, the methods for doing a ‘critical discourse analysis’ of corpus data are far from established yet. Even when we have examined a fairly large set of attestations, we cannot be certain whether our own interpretations of key items and collocations are genuinely representative of the large populations who produced the data. But we can be fairly confident of accessing a range of interpretative issues that is both wider and more precise than we could access by relying on our own personal usages and intuitions. Moreover, when we observe our own ideological position in contest with others, we are less likely to overlook it or take it for granted.’ (de Beaugrande 1999: 287)

Partington (2003: 12) proposes a scalar view of the uses of CL, pointing towards a rationale for using CL-related methods to carry out CDA

Partington (2003: 12) proposes a scalar view of the uses of CL, pointing towards a rationale for using CL-related methods to carry out CDA

‘At the simplest level, corpus technology helps find other examples of a phenomenon one has already noted. At the other extreme, it reveals patterns of use previously unthought of. In between, it can reinforce, refute or revise a researcher’s intuition and show them why and how much their suspicions were grounded.’

Complementary to each other and interaction benfiting both areas of research

CL can provide a general ‘pattern map’ of the data, mainly in terms of frequencies, key words/clusters and collocations, as well as their diachronic development (the latter contributing to the historical perspective in DHA: Discourse Historical Approach represented and pioneered by Ruth Wodak), which helps pinpoint specific periods for text selection or sites of interest

The CDA analysis can point towards patterns to be further explored through the CL lens and also provide explanations for corpus findings

CL in general and concordance analysis in particular can be positively influenced by exposure and familiarity with CDA analytical techniques

CL needs to be supplemented by the close analysis of selected texts using CDA theory and methodology

CL needs to be supplemented by the close analysis of selected texts using CDA theory and methodology

CDA, in turn, can benefit from incorporating more objective, quantitative CL approaches, as quantification can reveal the degree of generality of, or confidence in, the study findings and conclusions in CDA

How do news stories construct Islam?

How do news stories construct Islam?

Have there been any changes before and after 9/11?

Are there differences between reporting on Islam (as a religion) and Muslims (as a people)?

Are there any differences/similarities between tabloids and broadsheets?

Are there any differences/similarities between American and British newspapers?

40 million words of American news

Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle

Alah OR Allah OR ayatolah OR burka! OR burqa! OR chador! OR fatwa! OR hejab! OR imam! OR islam! OR Koran OR Mecca OR Medina OR Mohammedan! OR Moslem! OR Muslim! OR mosque OR mufti! OR mujaheddin! OR mujahedin! OR mullah! OR muslim! OR Prophet Mohammed OR Q'uran OR rupoush OR rupush OR sharia OR shari'a OR shia! OR shi-ite! OR Shi'ite! OR sunni! OR the Prophet OR wahabi OR yashmak! AND NOT Islamabad AND NOT shiatsu AND NOT sunnily

Alah OR Allah OR ayatolah OR burka! OR burqa! OR chador! OR fatwa! OR hejab! OR imam! OR islam! OR Koran OR Mecca OR Medina OR Mohammedan! OR Moslem! OR Muslim! OR mosque OR mufti! OR mujaheddin! OR mujahedin! OR mullah! OR muslim! OR Prophet Mohammed OR Q'uran OR rupoush OR rupush OR sharia OR shari'a OR shia! OR shi-ite! OR Shi'ite! OR sunni! OR the Prophet OR wahabi OR yashmak! AND NOT Islamabad AND NOT shiatsu AND NOT sunnily

Corpora split into 4:

Corpora split into 4:

All sub-corpora compared to a reference corpus (BNC written – 90 million words)

Direct references to terrorist attacks

Emotive/evaluative reaction: emotionally charged lexis

atrocity, atrocities, tragedy, carnage, horror, terrible,evil

Brainwashing

Brainwashing

lure, rant, rants, spew, rouser, brainwashed

“Children are being brainwashed into becoming Islamic extremists at 300 "Taliban schools" in Britain, it was reported last night. Youngsters are being indoctrinated with radical Islamic ideals by militant groups across the country, said leading British Muslim Dr Zaki Badawi.” (The Sun, December 28, 2001)